An appeal of a judge’s ruling that found Vancouver Sun business columnist David Baines had defamed a former senator has been dismissed.
Keith Fraser of The Province writes, “Lawson’s lawyer argued that Baines had crafted the column to imply that Lawson, former Canadian director of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, was corrupt.
“The judge concluded that while Baines was an ‘honest and forthright’ witness, Lawson had established that the words used in the column were defamatory.
“On appeal, the Sun’s lawyers contended that the words complained of were incapable of being defamatory and that the judge was wrong to find that they were.
“They argued that the trial judge had applied the wrong standard of review in the case.
“But in his reasons for judgment released Friday, B.C. Court of Appeal Justice Christopher Hinkson found that there were no such errors.”
